


Going For Gold

by orphan_account



Series: Bughead Stories [17]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Olympics AU, Riverdale, Romance, Sports, bughead - Freeform, pairs skating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-20 14:26:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13719612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When pairs skaters, Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper, are left without partners before the qualifying rounds to go to the Olympics they find an unlikely partnership in each other. With very different styles and ways of doing things, can they find a way to get along off and on the ice and go for gold?OrThe Olympics AU we all didn't know we wanted.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> The author has a very limited knowledge of figure skating terminology. What you see here is from her extensive years of winter Olympics viewing and what she may look up on the Internet.

**.**

**Chapter 1**

“What do you mean Dilton quit!?” Betty Cooper asked, feeling the beginnings of a tension headache. “He can’t just quit! We have qualifying rounds in a month! Who am I going to skate with?”

“Elizabeth, sweetie, here’s a novel idea. You could try out to go to the Olympics by yourself,” her mother and coach suggested. “You’re good enough to go solo. Skate in the singles, we both know you’re capable of doing it.”

Betty shook her head. “I don’t think I could. I’ve had a partner since I was 5. And. . .”

 _“And?”_ Alice said.

“I just don’t want to watch Cheryl and Jason Blossom win a gold medal in pairs, _again_!”

Alice sighed. “Fine. Forsythe Jones just lost his partner and is looking for a new one as well. Maybe you should go and talk to him.”

 _“Jughead?”_ Betty repeated.

“Is there something wrong with _Jughead_?” Alice asked. “The last time I checked, he was a decent skater and he’s actually placing in competitions.”

“He’s unconventional,” Betty replied.

Alice nodded. “I will admit his song choices are a little different than what you’d normally hear in a skating rink. But it wasn’t like Toni Topaz was your most conventional skater either. I’m sure if he agreed to be your new partner, you could get him on a more traditional path.”

Betty huffed. _“Jughead Jones!”_ she repeated.

“Come on Betty, It’s not like he has warts and pimples!” Alice said. “He’s actually pretty photogenic and you two would make a good looking pair. Just talk to him, just skate with him once and see if there’s anything there.”

**.**

“Elizabeth Cooper wants to meet with _me_?” Jughead raised an eyebrow as he studied his couch, Geraldine Grundy. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch,” Geraldine answered. “Her partner dumped her recently and she’s in need of a new one. Since Toni recently quit skating—”

“Everyone thinks we’re going to be a match made in figure skating heaven,” Jughead finished for her. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

“You could just go and talk to her,” Geraldine answered. “Without any of that trademark snark of your's. Unless you want to quit skating too. You could always go for that English degree you’ve been talking about the last 7 years.”

“Quit?” Jughead shook his head. “You know I wanted to compete at least one more time before I considered retiring.”

“Talk to Elizabeth then,” Geraldine said. “She might be exactly what you’re looking for.”

“Ugh but she’s so. . . so. . .”

“Traditional?” Geraldine supplied.

“Uptight is the word I am looking for, actually!” Jughead answered. “She’ll probably want to change me and the way I do things. Isn’t there anyone else?”

“Now Jug, there’s always room to grow and change,” Geraldine told him. “Maybe the two of you could compromise.”

“If I agree to skate with her then I am one step away from see-through shirts and sequins!”

Geraldine put her finger to her lips and shook her head. “Shhh! She’s going to hear you!”

“You invited her here!?” Jughead frowned. “What were you thinking?”

“That if she didn’t plan a sneak attack, you would never agree to see me!” Betty said, crossing her arms.

Jughead inwardly groaned when he saw her standing across from him in a pink North Face fleece pullover, leggings, and her ponytail as tight as it was when they had first met in 7th grade.

“Betty Cooper, it’s so nice to see you again,” he said, deciding to fake being pleasant.

It wasn’t like they were rivals or anything. He actually liked her as a regular person, she was well-read, quick witted, and as pretty as hell. But as a figure skater. . . she was a thing of legends. Married to tradition, they probably wouldn’t mesh well on the ice and after years of coming in 4th at the Olympics, he at least wanted to be on the podium.

On the other hand, if he was going to medal at all, he probably had the best chance of doing it with Betty. She was a bronze medal princess and a fan favorite.

“She’s just here to see if you to have any chemistry on the ice. It’s like you’re auditioning each other,” Geraldine explained. “Do you think you could manage that or is it going to be a great imposition on you Jughead?”  


“Just because I’m going to skate with you now doesn’t mean I’m going to be your partner,” Jughead said. “Got it, Sunshine?” he asked, rolling out his old childhood nickname for her.

“It’s completely understood!” Betty replied as she put her Lilly Pulitzer duffle bag down and toed her Keds off, smirking at him as she pulled her skates on and laced them up. “As long as _you_ understand that just because I’m skating with you it doesn’t automatically make you _my_ new partner.”

Geraldine rolled her eyes. “Will you to just get on the ice and skate your butts off, please?” she asked as she went to turn on some music, her choice, because they hadn’t choreographed anything. She just wanted to see how well they meshed together.

Jughead skated to the middle of the rink and took his mark, waiting for his cue. Betty joined him a second later and when Geraldine played the song, they started to move in sync with each other. It was like they’d been a pair their whole life, everything was instinctual. It was one of the most clichéd things ever to say they were creating magic on ice. But there was no other way to describe it as they skated off the cuff to the Blue Danube.

Geraldine felt her stomach flip a little bit as she watched them. Their chemistry was electric, organic even. Together, they could compete for gold. Together, they could probably even garner a fan base.

She could practically see _Team Bughead_ trending on Twitter or on a t-shirt.

When they ended their impromptu routine and were sitting down in front of her, she shook her head and looked between the both of them. “I think it would be a colossal mistake if the two of you didn’t team up,” she told them. “You might even have a few events and Olympics left in you, if you did. At least try it for this year, if it doesn’t work out. You don’t qualify for the winter games, then you don’t even have to consider it but I really think you should at least give each other a chance.”

Betty pulled her ponytail tighter and took a deep breath. “Skating with you wasn’t too horrible,” she admitted.

“You do have _some_ talent,” Jughead replied in a tone that implied _you’ll do_. “I wouldn’t be embarrassed to try out for anything with you.”

“I don’t do routines to Pearl Jam!”

“I don’t wear sequins!” Jughead retorted.

“Well, we’ll square away the tinier details later!” Betty answered, holding out her hand. “Give me your phone so I can sync it to mine. I’ll call you when we can meet with my choreographer and work something out for the qualifying rounds. We don’t have that much time left. We’re barely going to meet the deadline to enter as it is.”

“Right,” Jughead said. “Aren’t we already entered?”

“We need to reenter with each other,” Betty explained as she leaned in and took a picture of them together. “For my Instagram story. I’m very present on social media. Whoops, I have to go! I’m late for my work out! I’ll be in touch! Keep your phone on you!”

Jughead turned to Geraldine, his mouth open. “What was that!?”

“You’re Betty Cooper’s new partner. Congratulations!”

**TBC. . .**

**.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lybn36, atmc35, jandjsalmon, tinnie, BugheadjonesTheThird, Cherylnne, and dvridiculousfangirl

**.**

**Chapter 2**

“A ringmaster’s outfit?”

“I made sure it doesn’t have sequins,” Betty replied, smirking at him as she turned so Midge Klump could hem up her pink skirt, the whole thing sparkled every time she moved.

“But why a _ringmaster’s_ outfit?” Jughead asked.

“I thought we’d do a routine to a song from _the Greatest Showman_ for our long program,” Betty answered. “You’ve seen it, right?”

“A couple times,” Jughead admitted. “But why _the Greatest Showman_? Surely there has to be other musicals you can choose from, if you’re so set on it.”

“What do you want to skate to?” Betty asked. “ _American Psycho, the musical_?”

“Ew!” Midge said through a mouthful of pins.

“No!” Jughead replied. “But there are at least a dozen other musicals you could pick from to skate to.”

“Listen, I’m willing to compromise!” Betty told him. “ _If_ you stop complaining, you can pick the song for our short program.”

“You’d trust little ole’ me with such a monumental task?” Jughead couldn’t resist snarking at her.

“There’s a small catch.”

“Of course there is!” Jughead muttered.

“If I don’t like the song choose, I have veto power. I can and _will_ tell you to find another one.”

Jughead huffed. “You sure like being in control, don’t you Sunshine?”

“Take it or leave it,” Betty said, admiring herself in the 3-way-mirror.

“Fine!” Jughead conceded. “Midge, don’t you have anything a little less uptight?”

Midge frowned and leaned back, looking at Jughead. “I don’t know what you mean. . .”

“I mean for Betty. You’ve got to have something a little less. . . uptight than _that_ outfit,” Jughead replied. “Pretty in pink might have worked 10 years ago but she’s not sweet 16 anymore.”

Betty wrinkled her nose. “Do you have an opinion on everything?”

“This is a partnership,” Jughead said. “I want it to be collaborative. You do know how to do that, right? Or did Doily just do whatever you wanted no questions asked?”

“Dilton wasn’t really ever interested in skating, he wanted to be a Boy Scout and his mom thought it was too dangerous. So, he let me do whatever I wanted because he didn’t care,” Betty replied. “Did you and Toni go in on everything 50-50?”

“50-50,” Jughead confirmed. “I picked the music and she designed and sewed the costume part of it.”

“If you’re not really interested in the pink anymore, I have something for you!” Midge said as she stood up and stabbed the pins back in her tomato cushion. “I’ve kinda been waiting for this day for a while. I have so many ideas about what we could do!”

Betty sighed. “Midge, you know Pink is my signature color!”

“I was thinking we could do something more in the blue family,” Midge replied as she went to her desk and got her design notebook out. She flipped to a page she’d tabbed and came back, handing it to Betty. “I was thinking something a little like Elsa from _Frozen_ —”

“I am _not_ skating to Let It Go!” Jughead interjected immediately.

Betty rolled her eyes. “No one’s asking you to,” she said.

“Elsa was just my inspiration!” Midge explained. “It’s a little sexier and a little bluer without straying too far from who you are. Or I was inspired by Zendaya’s butterfly dress in _the Greatest Showman_ and stick with the theme! I could have it ready before the qualifying rounds. . . if you’re interested. If you don’t like it, we can always use this one as a backup or for another routine.”

Betty sighed and looked at herself in the mirror. If she were being honest, she looked like the same person that she did when she first started ice skating when she was 5, nothing had changed from her blonde ponytail to the pink fabric she chose for her costumes.

“Fine! We can try something new,” she relented as she hopped off the bench. “But we need to use this one as a backup and we still need to talk about a third outfit. I’m going to get dressed, Jughead why don’t you try on your outfit? We got your measurements from Toni.”

“Stalker much?” Jughead joked.

Betty smiled at him and disappeared into one of the dressing rooms.

“You should go get changed,” Midge said as she started to go through a rack of men’s clothes. “I can’t fix anything while you’re dressed in your street clothes.”

“I know how it works! I’ve had fittings before!” Jughead informed her.

“You don’t have to be mean!” Betty told him as she came back out dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and skinny jeans.

“It’s okay Betty, I’ve dealt with meaner people than Jughead!” Midge assured her, smiling in his direction. “You’re fooling yourself if you think you’re any easier to deal with than pop stars.”

“Who’s the worst person you’ve ever designed a costume for, Midge?” Jughead asked.

Midge shook her head. “I couldn’t tell you without compromising my integrity,” she answered, teasingly.

“Come on and let her see if anything needs to be altered!” Betty urged. “We still have to go and meet Kevin so we can start learning our new routines.”

Jughead shook his head. “Do you ever stop to breathe?”

“She barely stops to sleep,” Midge volunteered.

“I sleep!” Betty protested. “Probably not as much as regular people do but I sleep.”

“Do you do anything for fun?” Jughead asked.

“Do _you_ do anything for fun?” Betty volleyed back at him. “You know as well as I do that a skater’s life is in the rink. We’re a slave to the ice and everything that goes along with it.”

Jughead grinned slyly at her. “Trust me, Sunshine, I know how to have fun. I am very cozy with my Kindle Fire.”

Betty groaned. “Just go and try on your outfit so we can stop using up Midge’s valuable time and get out of here.”

They rode over to Kevin’s studio together in Betty’s car. _Bolero_ was filtering through her speakers, making the silence between them a little less awkward. They had run out of things to talk about when they had both lost interest in and stopped trading Boxcar Children books at their shared skating events.

Jughead observed her from the passenger seat, she looked like she was making checklists in her head of everything she needed to get done. He could almost hear her thoughts. He cleared his throat, causing her to look sideways at him.

“I feel like we should get to know each other a little better,” Jughead said.

Betty laughed. “We’ve known each other for almost our whole entire lives!” she reminded him.

“I’m talking about getting to really know each other, not about the small talk we’ve been exchanging at the rink during practices or before competitions. We can do it slowly, starting now. Tell me one thing. . . anything about yourself.”

“You go first,” Betty said.

Jughead mentally scrolled through the list of things he could tell her without being mortified. She already knew his mother and sister had left him and his father when he was in middle-school because everybody on the skating circuit knew about it. All the mothers, including Alice, had cooed over him sympathetically. FP had started to disappear deeper into the bottle around then, something she already knew because he’d showed up drunk at one of his events.

Telling her that he was still a virgin seemed like locker room and even though they _were_ athletes, they weren’t in a locker room and she wasn’t one of his male friends.

“I’ve never had a serious relationship before,” he finally said.

“ _You’ve_ never had a serious girlfriend?” Betty repeated, raising a skeptical eyebrow as she studied him.

“It’s not like I’ve had time,” Jughead answered. “You know as well as I do that ice skating is a full time commitment. It’s hard dividing your time between the personal and professional.”

Betty nodded. “Yeah, I’ve never had a serious relationship before either. I’ve never really actually been on a date.”

“Is that _your_ secret? You can’t tell the same one as me. It isn’t fair!” Jughead teased her.

“Well, it’s the biggest one I’ve got!” Betty replied.

“You’ve got to have something better than that!” Jughead said. “There’s got to be some deep, dark secret you’ve been carrying around. We’ve all got them.”

Betty sighed. “I used to have a crush on Archie Andrews.”

Jughead rolled his eyes. “Yeah. That’s not so much of a secret, Sunshine. I think everybody except for him knew that you carried a torch for him back in the day. Are you sure you’re over it yet?”

“Yes! I guess he and Veronica Lodge are pretty serious and far be it from me to try and steal another girl’s boyfriend.”

“So, now that we’ve established you’re a dateless loser like me—”

“I am _not_ a dateless _loser_!” Betty interjected, glaring at him. “I’ve just been too busy to get a boyfriend—”

“And that you had a crush that everybody knew about on my best friend,” Jughead continued like he hadn’t been interrupted. “You owe me something _really_ juicy. I don’t want to hear about your _Downton Abbey_ DVD collection either. I heard you telling Sabrina that you got a good deal at a Black Friday sale at Target. Besides, given how popular Downton was when it was airing, I don’t think it’s that deep or that dark.”

Betty chewed her bottom lip and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. She couldn’t think about anything too dark or horrible she had been harboring. There were the typical things like hoping Cheryl broke a lace before she had to skate and didn’t have a replacement. But she was sure that wasn’t too awful in the grand scheme of things.

It certainly didn’t fit the kind of thing Jughead wanted to hear.

“I’m sorry but I don’t have that many secrets,” Betty answered as she stopped at a red light.

“I’ve always wondered why people would say you were uptight and boring,” Jughead deadpanned.

Betty was grateful when they finally came into view of Kevin’s studio. She had never been good at making small talk or having friends. She had always been focused and determined on getting good grades or beating previous records she and Dilton had set. She had noticed the way other girls excluded her, whispered about her behind her back but she had chosen to ignore it. To rise above it even though she realized how far behind it had set her.

“They were just threatened by me!” Betty replied, repeating the lie that she had told herself over the years as she turned off her car, abruptly stopping the music and line of conversation.

Jughead had the good sense to end the conversation as she grabbed her purse and tossed her keys in it as she stalked away from him

He caught up with her. “I offended you!”

“No. You just said to my face what everybody else whispers about behind my back. Well, you implied it anyways.”

“This is not a good way to start a partnership,” Jughead said ruefully. “I’m sorry I put you on the spot like that, Betty. I’m sorry that I said things you’ve probably heard all your life. I hope we can start again.”

Betty stood up a little taller. “Jughead, there’s one thing you need to know about me. Well, there’s probably a lot you need to know about me but one of those things is I don’t keep a record of wrongs. It’s actually quite exhausting if you do. We can move past this but I think becoming better friends is something we should let develop organically.”

“Okay,” Jughead agreed, slinging his arm around her shoulder. “But can we get this over with? I’m starting to get hungry. I might faint if I don’t eat.”

Betty shook her head. “You’ve been saying that since we met and I can assure you, you’ve never fainted from not eating.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll treat you to a cheeseburger and fries when we’re done here,” Betty promised.

Jughead smiled down at her. “See, this is starting to become the beginning of a beautiful friendship!”

**TBC. . .**

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late, LATE update. My life has been INSANE. I hope you will tell me what you think and that you are still interested in this story. Be back with more soon!   
> Until Next Time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KawaiiKitsune13, dsvridiculousfangirl, yougottahave_faith, InAFlash18, atmc35, casket4mytears, jandsalmon, Cherlynne, and rubyventure thank you for reviewing chapter 2!

**.**

**Chapter 3**

Two days after New Year’s Day found Jughead and Betty on a plane to Salt Lake City for qualifying rounds to make the team to go to the Olympics.

Betty was sitting up straight beside him, paging through _Real Simple_ while she listened to music. He could hear strains of _Strauss_ coming through her earbuds. She was the perfect picture of poise but he knew she was anxious about the impending results of their skate. Had seen it in the way her hands trembled when she’d showed the flight attendant her boarding pass.

Jughead would deny it if anyone asked him but he was feeling a little nervous too. It was the first time he’d be skating in a competition without Toni and even though he had great chemistry with Betty. . . that together they were _magical_ , he knew it wouldn’t be the same. He still wasn’t used to her and she would take some getting used to.

He opened his book and tried to make sense of the words but finally gave up after reading the same line half a dozen times and reached for his iPod. He put on the playlist Betty had put together for him of the songs they were skating to and closed his eyes, trying to memorize the rhythm and imagining himself gliding across the ice with Betty as he did. It was a technique he had used forever and was usually helpful in learning a new routine.

Betty had chosen a piece from the 2016 _War & Peace_. It was an unexpected selection, given her penchant for musical theater and pastels. He was impressed that she knew what it was outside of _Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812_. Any girl who had gotten through Andrew Davies 6 part mini-series was worthy of his respect.

He shook the thought away and tried to focus but realized it was useless, so he abandoned Martin Phipps for his 90s grunge playlist and his journal. He jotted down a few things about how he was feeling about the upcoming competition but found his pen wandering to the blonde beside him. Before he knew what was happening, he’d filled two pages with observations he had made about her after getting to know her better.

She had always been a good athlete, somebody he had always liked watching even though they were usually competitors. She was a force to be reckoned with and he had always been attracted to that.

He shook his head, he hadn’t thought about his childhood crush on her in years.

He hoped he wasn’t in danger of crushing on her again. He didn’t nearly have enough time to pine after a girl who didn’t have the time for relationships herself.

**.**

Betty threw her phone like it was a poisonous snake. She usually tried to avoid all her social media platforms like the plague before she skated but sometimes, she saw things by accident. Especially because Cheryl Blossom was so ruthless in making sure she saw every derogatory thing she tweeted about her.

Jughead craned his head to look at her. “What’s going on, Betty?”

Betty took a deep breath and gathered her hair up in a bun. “Cheryl. She’s just trying to make my competitive life miserable. Still.”

“Ignore her,” Jughead answered.

“I try but she goes out of her way to make sure I see things like the news article about how her and her brother are the ice skating couple to beat at the Olympics,” Betty said. “She literally tagged me on Twitter in an article _Sports Illustrated_ posted on their website today.”

“That’s because they haven’t seen us skate yet,” Jughead answered.

“I don’t need you to placate me or stroke my ego,” Betty told him. “She just frustrates me. You have no idea, Jughead. You’ve flown under her radar all this time but now that you’ve hitched your star to me, she’ll go after you too.”

“I can handle it,” Jughead assured her. “I’m not a delicate, shrinking flower who needs to be protected.”

Betty stabbed her hair with a bobby pin and forced a smile. “Good, I’m not either.”

“Why were you looking at your phone anyways?” Jughead asked as he combed his hair. “Isn’t it some sort of personal tradition that you don’t look at it until you’ve been scored?”

“I don’t but I got the notification when I was turning my phone off,” Betty answered, shrugging. “I was morbidly curious when I saw it.”

“Just like anybody else would be,” Jughead answered. “I guess you couldn’t wait to look at it until afterwards?”

“No,” Betty admitted. “I _tried_ but I really wanted to know and I knew if I didn’t read it right now, I would have been thinking about it the whole time we were on the ice.”

Jughead nodded. “Okay but you shouldn’t really let it discourage you. Take it to heart and think about it and channel it into making this your best performance ever. Make sure everybody knows we’re ones to watch too. Or we’ll show them all we are the _ones_ to watch. That we’re the ones to beat.”

Betty shook her head. “Come on Jughead, you know I’ve always been second best to Cheryl my whole entire career.”

“You want it though. We both know our shelf life at the winter games will expire soon, we should try and win gold at least once before we go. You’re America’s sweetheart, I saw the article _Sports Illustrated_ wrote about _you_. Everyone wants to see you win.”

Betty opened a tube of pink lipstick and applied it evenly before spritzing setting spray on her face to keep her makeup intact. “I’m sure there’s a few girls out there who would love to see you win too. You’ve got that whole brooding, loner aesthetic thing working in your favor.”

Jughead grinned at her. “It’s almost our turn. I guess we better get out there and make them want us both to win as a team.”

**.**

When her blade touched the ice thoughts of Cheryl Blossom disappeared. Her nerves fluttered away on the first notes of their song and she skated to her position, waiting for her cue. As they started their routine, everything disappeared including the sportscaster’s commentary faded away and she was just aware of herself, the ice, and Jughead.

She thought about what he had said in the dressing room and channeled all her energy into doing better than her best. Jughead followed suite and kept up with her brilliantly.

By the time they were finished, she was sure they were going to be in first. She raised her arms in the air with the grace of a ballerina and her world came back into focus with thundering applause.

Betty looked at Jughead and smiled at him because she was sure they weren’t at the point where they would hug after a job well down. She had never even gotten to that point with Dilton in their relationship. He was rigid on and off the ice. Sometimes Betty thought if she had hugged him, he would break figuratively and literally.

Jughead smiled in return and raised his hand to high five her. Betty met him in the middle and then skated back with him to the kiss and cry to get their scores.

**TBC. . .**

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many apologies for the late update. My best friend got married last week, that coupled with the time change completely exhausted me and I walked around in a daze for the first part of the week. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will tell me what you thought! More soon.
> 
> Until Next Time!

**Author's Note:**

> You know what they say, if you want something done then you have to do it yourself. I wanted to see a story where Bughead were pair skaters, so I decided to write it myself. Now I’m wicked excited to write this story. I hope you’ll all tell me what you think!
> 
> Until Next Time!


End file.
